Planting complete · Guatemala
Esteros de Acapan is restoring an important watershed for the wellbeing of Guatemala. Planting 450,000 trees alongside local families will reinvigorate the land and provide sustainable livelihoods.
The project is restoring the forest habitat of all the wildlife that relies on the area. With less than 10% of its forest cover remaining, the plant and animal life in this region is highly threatened. BirdLife International lists part of the area as a key biodiversity area and lists the entire region as an endemic bird area. Conservation International also lists the entire project area as a Biodiversity Hotspot.
This is an exciting project as it is empowering the local community to restore their land. Each family in the community has rights to an equal amount of land within the community. This community land is strictly enforced through the Fondos de Tierra department and was given to the community under strict conditions of long term use by the community. This was done as a reparations act. The land tenure status makes it so the land can't be sold outside of the community.
This project will deliver important outcomes for local people, including:
The Guatemalan government, in coordination with the UN, has identified two watersheds that are essential to restore for the well-being of the country. Restoration Era is working with the Guatemala Ministry of Water to restore the Samalá and Ocosito Watersheds from the mountains to the mangrove estuaries on the coast.
This landscape-focused project provides environmental, social, and economic benefits to all those who rely on the watershed. Esteros de Acapan is a part of this project and is in the once tropical woody savannah area near the coast as the watershed begins to move into the mangrove estuaries. This region has been heavily deforested, which has contributed to decreased rainfall, erosion, and deterioration of soil, which is why we are prioritising this region.
Project notes from Ecologi, our planting partner for this site.
Forest restoration in Guatemala
Guatemala
This project is enabling local people to restore their land so that they can sustainably work it for many generations to come, while preserving and increasing biodiversity in their community. The project will provide new sustainable income streams to enable local people to earn a reliable living.
Payments made through this project to the community for their work restoring this landscape will be the first income the community has had which allows them to access transportation, health care, consistent food and water, and create safer homes.
The project is restoring the forest habitat of all the wildlife that relies on the area. With less than 10% of its forest cover remaining, the plant and animal life in this region is highly threatened. The majority of the area is considered to have low biodiversity intactness, with the areas near bodies of water having medium biodiversity significance. BirdLife International lists part of the area as a key biodiversity area and lists the entire region as an endemic bird area. Conservation International also lists the entire project area as a Biodiversity Hotspot.
By restoring native forests, carbon is sequestered from the atmosphere, erosion is reduced, flooding is prevented, and the area cools.
Updates from the people planting it, newest first.
Every one of the 625,000 mangroves is now in the ground. The teams in Tahuexco and San Andres worked incredibly hard to get here, and conditions in San Andres were ideal for finishing the planting over the summer.
The communities that were brought in on this project are excited to see it grow and continue to expand going forward!
Like any community, there can be rifts. One of the amazing benefits we have seen through this large-scale project is that it has brought different families and groups within the community together. The community has united under this restoration work to achieve the greater goal of restoring their land and creating a more sustainable and better future.
Community members have decided to pitch in on a used truck to help with the project, help with their agricultural work, and to be able to move produce to market. The community was very isolated before the project. This was due to bad roads to get in and out of the town, which sometimes became impassable for buses in the rainy season. Now the community can access services from nearby towns and can get their agricultural products to buyers. There is an amazing sense of community!
Kevin, the monitoring lead for Acapan, is set to become the first person in his family and his community to pursue higher education, made possible by income earned through the project.
Kevin has chosen to study sustainable agriculture, with a clear goal in mind: to bring that knowledge back into the project, strengthening restoration best practices and helping his community build sustainable agriculture systems that support long-term, thriving livelihoods.
Kevin hopes to continue his work with Era and, upon completing his degree, join the National Leadership Team, carrying his community's experience and priorities into decisions that shape the project's future.
The most recent of the 1,362 trees planted here for somebody's pet.
Every tree on this site still stands and still has its page. New trees go to the sites we plant now.
